We do still need it. Any time to need to scroll through any extremely long list in order to find a single particular item, the scroll wheel beats the manual binary search of scrollscrollscroll... too far... scrollscrollscroll back... too far... etc.

I would, unironically, use a device that had that iPod interface as a music device until my dying day. Make it only able to stream from Apple Music, make me load up songs through USB -- I'll do it.

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notJim an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I have a logitech mouse that allows you to unclick the scroll wheel so you can scroll at tremendous speed (the scroll wheel has a bearing). I highly recommend this both because it's surprisingly useful and because it's incredibly satisfying.

	▲	addaon 13 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The one that uses a semi-permanent magnet for that mechanism? It's the only use I'm aware of a switchable permanent magnet (alnico and rare earth half-cylinders wrapped in a coil; pulsing the coil switches the alnico to be either parallel or anti-parallel with the neodymium, turning the whole assembly on or off) in a commercial product; I bought it just for that.
	▲	allthetime 25 minutes ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		The only problem with this scroll wheel is that the clicked mode does not actually guarantee a scroll event per click. There is a disconnect between the mechanical click and the actual event sensor. This is usually a non issue but if you try to use the scroll up/down as a bind in a game (fps jump for instance) it becomes painfully obvious. Oh and also scroll click isn’t a thing (but there is the middle button to bind) For normal work I absolutely love the unlocked flywheel scroll and won’t go back
	▲	taneq an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I’ve used G502 mice for a decade now and the scroll wheel is central to how good they are. The MX Master mouse also has this but instead of a mechanical clickclack it has a button that switches an electropermanent magnet or something to enable/disable the free spin mode. It’s witchcraft.

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Barbing an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The Onion has you covered https://youtu.be/9BnLbv6QYcA

	▲	blauditore an hour ago \| parent [-]
		That's basically how Apple TV works and it drives me nuts. And miss me with the "but you can use your iPhone", because that's exactly what is wrong with Apple products. I don't want an iPhone, and there is absolutely no technical reason to not have a better virtual keyboard or supporting non-Apple devices as remote controls.

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TFNA an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Once your music library gets to hundreds of artists and albums, scrolling through all that with a scroll wheel is so much slower than an interface where one can just type in a few characters and get the desired artist/album/song.

Just before Covid I got nostalgic for the iPod and got a used one and put in bigger storage and Rockbox, but it was precisely the cumbersomeness of the scrollwheel that caused me to give it up and go back to my phone.